Why this name:- “Body & Breath”??

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Why this name:- “Body & Breath”?? for my yoga center

I could have easily named it a yoga center with my name in it. :)

But this name came to my mind when I seriously started to understand that there is much more to Yoga than just doing asanas, few pranayamas & meditation.

There are 7 basic levels of existence, for a human being.

1. Body (Sharir)

2. Breath (Swas)

3. Mind (Mann)

4. Intellect (Budhhi)

5. Memory(Chit)

6. Ego (sense of I - not the negative kind)

7. Self (Atma / Soul )

In today's world, as we are more body conscious than ever, we need some basic tool to rise above this. That tool is Breath- which is always with us, though it can't be seen it can be felt, it's easy to bring focus to it whenever required. Breath also helps bring calmness to an agitated mind eg. if one is angry or disturbed, even our elders would immediately say- take a deep breath & relax. They knew how a simple breath can calm a person.

We know that without breath we are not alive. So the quality of the breath is also very important.

We all have heard about the Lifestyle disorders that have become so common. They also come under the category fo psycho-somatic disorders i.e. these disorders first start taking shape from our thoughts & emotions then slowly become visible at the body level. So, without any delay, we should start working on our thoughts & emotions. Here mind plays a very important role. And breath is the only tool or link between the mind 7 body. With its help, we bring the desired changes in the body as well as the mind.

It's very interesting to see that with breath we can bring changes in the workings of the mind & also changes at the body level.

Physically, when we start giving attention to our breath, we are also strengthening our parasympathetic nervous system. That's how we remove the stress hormone cortisol out of our body.

when we breathe consciously from the right nostril, oxygen is supplied top left hemisphere of the brain & breathing from left nostril channels O2 to the Right hemisphere of the brain.

Breath is also a very important vehicle of Prana (vital energy). Prana is the source of energy through which a living being (be it even plants, animal, insects etc) does its functions. like eat, sleep. procreate etc.

Our Ancient texts have given a number of breathing techniques that one needs to perform to become even eligible to be part of any spiritual & religious practice.

In Naturopathy, Breath comes under Vayu (air). By changing the breath i.e. breathing from the inactive nostril can help one overcome any health problems. e.g in Chandra bhedi pranayama- one inhales through left & exhales through right- this helps control High BP, Helps even digest Liquid in our food & keeps the body cool in summers. In Surya bhedi pranayama- inhaling through right & exhaling through left helps overcome fatigue, low BP, laziness, lethargy, helps to digest solids in our food & helps to increase body temperature in winter.

I hope now you know why breath is so important after body. Thus the name of my yoga center

& blog :)